Tsunami
by Maybe-I-Is-Crazy
Summary: Arabella is a mutant . She can control water. She teaches at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. SHEILD calls her in when Loki steals the tesseract to be apart of the avengers. {This is my first attempt at a story.}
1. Chapter 1

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
3rd POV  
Arabella sat at her desk during her planning hour grading the tests from her classes. Bella is beautiful to everyone around her, with her blonde- almost white- hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. As she was finishing up she heard someone knocking on her door.  
"Come in," she called. When she looked up she saw the professor. "Oh. Hello Professor Xavier, What can I do for you today"  
"A friend of mine called earlier and said he needed help," he said after he rolled through the doorway.  
"What do they need help with"  
"They had a powerful item stolen from them and they need help from us and I chose you to go"  
She stared at him like he just grew another head. "I'm sorry professor, but I don't have much information on this to jump right in."  
The guy, that she totally forgot was there, spoke up. " That's where I come in. My name is Phil Coulson and I am an agent of SHEILD or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division if you must" He handed her a tablet. " This has all of the files that you will need." He then took out a business card from his jacket and handed it to her. "This is for when you decide on what your answer will be."  
She took the items and set them on her desk while looking at the clock. When she saw it was almost time for her next class she spoke up. " I'll get to looking at that after this last class of mine- and not to sound rude or anything but can you leave so I can teach my next class."  
"I'll leave you to it then. I hope to see you again Mrs. Rose," Phil said, He bid his good-byes to Professor Xavier and left.  
"I hope you take them up an that offer Bella, it will give you a chance to meet new people" After he said that he left and her next class came in.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
After her classes Bella sat down in her chair and sighed. She was glad that the day was over because that meant a break. Then she remembered the files Phil gave her and then she sighed again because she didn't want to read. But she thought about it and gave in because it will mean she finished everything that day.  
She read it over muttering to herself. " Tesseract... Loki... Mind control... What in the world goes on in this place."  
"Apparently people having their minds controlled" Logan said as he entered the classroom.  
Bella shrieked and splashed Logan with water. " Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Logan I didn't know you were there. I shouldn't have reacted like that. I-"  
Logan chuckled, waved her off, and said" I shouldn't have snuck in here like that while you were so stuck in your reading"  
"This just so happens to be something for Charles. So I'm not reading for fun. " She argued.  
"Well, you are always reading, so I thought you were 'stuck in another world' as you put it." he bantered back.  
Arabella sat there looking like a fish out of water trying to come up with a comeback. When Logan started laughing at her she flicked her wrist at him and drenched him with water and said " Now can you let me get back to deciphering these files"  
"Maybe I can help," he said.  
"I would appreciate that." She smiled thankfully . The next few hours they sat and got a part of the story. They then discussed if she should go and help them and decided that she would, so they went to talk to the professor.  
Bella knocked on the door and waited for an answer.  
"Come in," Xavier called out. Arabella and Logan walked in to talk to him.  
"Professor-" she started.  
"I've already called and they said they will be here for you tomorrow." The professor said.  
Bella was about to ask how he knew but then remembered that he had telepathy and walked out of the room muttering about 'telepathic professors that can't keep out of her head', Logan chuckled and said to the professor "I'll go help her and calm her down before she floods the Mansion." Charles nodded and Logan left. After he found her and calmed her down, they went to go pack her stuff for the trip.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
Arabella sat on the jet as she waited for Coulson to pick up the person that he said he had to for his boss. She decided to read one of her books. Just as she was getting into the book she heard people approaching the jet and tensed up. Then she heard the familiar voice of Coulson and relaxed and got back to her book. When she heard someone calling her name she looked up while closing her book.  
"Arabella, I would like you to meet Captain Steven Rodgers." Coulson said.  
"Nice to meet you Captain," she said sticking her hand out.  
"Just call me Steve, ma' am," he said shaking her hand, surprised at the strength that she had put into the handshake.  
"Please don't call me ma' am, just call me Bella," she smiled at him.  
During the plane ride Steve was going through the files. The pilot says to Coulson " We're about forty minutes out, sir."  
Coulson gets up and walks over to Steve. "So this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve said.  
" A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula," he said as they watched the Hulk roar and slam a jeep apart.  
"Didn't really go his way did it," Arabella butted in.  
Phil and Steve look at her " Not so much When he's no that thing though, guy's like a Steven Hawking." Steve looked confused. Bella laughed at his expression.  
Coulson seeing his expression said " He's like a smart person. I gotta say, it's as honor to meet you, officially." Steve smiled at him " I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve looked down. He stands up, shut off the tablet and walks to the side with Coulson following. " I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, its really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board." While he is saying this Bella is laughing quietly to herself.  
Steve smiles at her and says to Coulson " Well, I hope I'm the man for the job.  
"Oh you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." Coulson said.  
Steve looks at him, " The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned"  
Bella looks up at him and says " With everything that is going on, people just might need a little old fashioned." Steve looked at her and nodded.  
{ Author's note- This is my first attempt at a story}


	2. Chapter 2

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
The Quinjet Lands on the Helicarrier . Steve, Bella, And Coulson walk down the ramp meeting up with Natasha. "Hi." she said to them before turning to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. Face time."  
"See you there." he said before walking away.  
Natasha turned to Steve "There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his trading cards yet?"  
Arabella giggled at his confused face. "Trading cards?"  
" They're vintage, he's very proud." They head towards Dr. Banner, who looked very nervous.  
"Dr. Banner" Steve said as he shook his hand.  
"Oh, yeah. They told me you'd be coming." He said.  
"Word is you can find the cube."  
" Is that the only word on me?"  
"Only word I care about" he said. Arabella glared at him because he was being rude.  
"Must be strange for you, all of this. "Banner said.  
"Well. this is actually kind of familiar" Steve said.  
Natasha and Arabella Both stood back and watched this scene unfold. Natasha then stepped forward and said "Gentleman and lady, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath." Right after she said that the Helicarrier started shaking.  
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.  
"Really? They wanted me in a submerged, pressurized metal container," Banner said as him, Steve, and Arabella watch in awe as the Helicarrier lifted into the air. "Oh, no. This is much worse" he said as they started walking inside. Bella gave him a small smile and a pat on the shoulder.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
As they walked into the bridge they saw Agent Maria Hill giving instructions. Once she is satisfied she turns to Nick Fury and says "We're at lock, sir."  
" Good. Let's vanish" he said. The Helicarrier lifts in the sky and covers itself in reflective mirrors.  
As Steve, Banner, and Arabella walk closer to Fury they we're taking in all of their surroundings. "Gentlemen and Lady." Steve walked up to Fury and gave him a $10 bill. Arabella looked at him weird and he shrugged at her. Fury walked over to Banner and stuck out his hand. He reluctantly shakes it. "Doctor, thank you for coming." he says to him.  
"Thanks for asking nicely," he said. "So, uh... how long am I staying?" he asked nervously.  
"Once we get out hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear." Fury said.  
"Where are you with that?" Fury turns to Coulson for him to explain, while Natasha is eyeing an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen.  
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson explained  
"That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha said walking up.  
"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner said getting into business mode.  
"How many are there?' Fury asked.  
"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate then for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have a place for me to work?" Banner said. During this Steve and Arabella we're looking out of place.  
"Agent Romanoff would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please."  
Natasha nods and walks over to Banner. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys."  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
As they were waiting for facial recognition to locate Loki, Coulson, Steve, and Arabella stood side by side, talking.  
I mean if it's not to much trouble." Coulson said. Arabella was trying to keep from laughing at them.  
"No, no. It's fine." Steve said with red cheeks.  
"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but-"  
"We've got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent." one of the agents shouted before Coulson could finish.  
"Location?" He asked the agent.  
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. he's not exactly hiding." replied the agent.  
"Captain, Tsunami, your up." they both nod and leave.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
As the crowd runs away, Loki slowly walks out and materializes in his gold armor and helmet. The police arrive and with no hesitation, he blasts the cars, flipping them over and over.  
"Kneel before me." Loki says. The crowd ignores him. Another LOKI appears, blocking the crowd. Loki after Loki appears, they all grin as they raise their spears, encircling the crowd "I said. KNEEL!" Everyone becomes quiet and kneels in front him. Loki embracing his arms out, smiling. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."  
As the words resonate to the kneeling crowd, an elder German man refuses to kneel and stands, heroic. "Not to men like you." he says.  
"There are no men like me." Loki says.  
"There are always men like you." the elder man says  
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." Loki is about to execute him with his scepter as the light glows blue. Just as the energy beam shoots out, Captain America arrives! He dives in just in time and blocks the blast with his shield, knocking Loki down on his butt. Tsunami lands and helps the elder man away from the fight to come.  
" You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."  
As Loki stands up he says "The soldier. The man out of time."  
"I'm not the one who's out of time." From above Cap, the Quinjet arrives. A machine gun is pointed towards Loki.  
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha's voice sounds over the intercom. Like greased lighting, Loki sends a blast of blue at the Quinjet. Natasha Maneuvers it just in time, giving Cap the time to throw his shield at Loki. Loki flings Cap to the ground. Tsunami steps in and punches Loki in the face. Cap then throws his shield from behind Loki, but he swats it way. Tsunami used this distraction to kick Loki but he dodged and knocked her off of her feet. Cap then attacked and then ended up on the ground. Standing over him, he points the scepter's tip on his helmet. "Kneel." Loki said to him.  
"Not today." Cap said. Cap flips and knocks him out with his leg. Loki grabs him and flips him over.  
Up in the Quinjet Natasha is trying to aim the gun with out hitting the Captain or Tsunami "The guy's all over the place." Natasha said over the Comm Link Suddenly, AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" is heard over the speaker on the Quinjet.  
"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" Tsunami, Cap, and Loki look up at the sky. Tony flies over in his Iron Man suit and blasts Loki right back to the ground. Iron Man touches down. He stands up and pulls out every piece of weaponry the suit has.  
"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Iron Man said Loki puts up his hands and surrenders. His armor materializes away.  
"Good move." Iron Man said.  
"Mr. Stark." Captain said  
"Captain." Tony said before turning to Tsunami and sticking out his hand and saying " I'm Tony Stark, nice to meet you."  
"Now is not the time Stark. But I am Arabella Rose and I'm not interested." Arabella said before walking to the Quinjet with Loki in the cuffs that she got from Coulson to put him in.


	3. Chapter 3

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
Natasha watches the skies. Thunder sounds across the sky, coming out of nowhere. Fury speaks over the headset. "Said anything yet?"  
"Not a word." Natasha replies.  
"Just get him here. We're low on time." he tells her. With Loki tied up and cuffed to his seat, Tony, Steve and Arabella watch from a distance whispering.  
"I don't like it" Steve says suddenly.  
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asks.  
"I don't remember it ever being that easy. This gut packs a wallop." Steve says  
Arabella looks up and says "this does seem kinda fishy"  
"Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?" Tony says getting on Bella's nerves.  
"What?" Steve asks looking very confused.  
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Steve looks at Tony, finally meeting his ego match.  
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said.  
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you" Tony says.  
Just as Bella was about to speak up, thunder and lightning nearly hit the jet, making it shake violently.  
"Where is this coming from?" questioned Natasha from the cockpit. Thunder rumbles overhead. Loki stares out the window nervously.  
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Bella teases Loki.  
"I'm not overly fond of what follows" he said back.  
Outside something hits the jet. Thor opens the ramp and grabs Loki by the throat and flies out. Steve, Tony, and Arabella are left dumbstruck. Tony puts the Iron Man helmet on. "Now there's that guy." he says walking over to the hatch.  
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asks.  
"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve asks.  
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony turns and gets ready to jump off the jet to chase after Thor.  
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Captain America exclaims.  
"I have a plan, attack." Tony says before jumping out of the jet.  
Captain America sighs and grabs a parachute to follow. "I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said to him.  
"I don't see how I can" he said to her.  
"These guys come fro legends, they're basically gods" Bella told him,  
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't look like that." He replied before jumping out of the jet.  
Arabella sighed and started muttering how she should be used to it because of Logan. Natasha gave a small laugh before clearing her throat. "What are you gonna do, Bella" Natasha said after she got her attention.  
"How 'bout you land this jet and I'll get Loki while the boys are fighting." Natasha nodded after she heard what Bella said.  
After Natasha found a spot to land and Bella scaling the cliff, Bella found Loki sitting and watching the fight. Bella sighed and walked up to him. After she got him in the jet she walked back out and whistled loudly towards the boys. After they looked up she said sarcastically " Nice to know we like to leave the bad guy sitting alone on a cliff." The boys looked at each other and then looked back at Bella. "Get in the jet before I think about soaking you all with water." They nodded before getting on the jet with Bella following.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
When they got back there was a team waiting to take Loki to his cell. When they got to the room they were directed to they saw Bruce there and a screen with Loki and Fury on it, They all sat down and watched the interrogation.  
"In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass." Fury presses a button which OPENS UP a HATCH underneath Loki's cell. Loki peers as much as he can from the glass and sees an open sky.  
"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!" Fury closes the hatch and points at Loki. "Ant." Then points at the button which would drop Loki into the steel trap. "Boot."  
"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki said smirking.  
"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury said as a reply.  
"Oh, I've heard." Loki said looking at the camera. "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki said to Fury.  
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control." Nick said to him. "You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury continued.  
"Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is." Loki said trying to get under his skin.  
"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." Fury says before he walks off leaving Loki in his glass cell. Loki looks back at the camera, smirking.


	4. Chapter 4

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
Steve watches until the monitor goes black. Thor, who didn't even look, just listened, stands there, torn apart. Bella sighed and looked around the room at everyone. They all just stood there in silence.  
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said breaking the silence.  
"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve said.  
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor said coming out of his trance.  
"An army? From outer space?" Steve said in shock. Bella just looked ahead and sighed. Natasha looked at her questionably and Bella shook her head and mouthed 'I'll tell you later', Natasha nodded and went back to listening.  
"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner concluded.  
"Selvig?" Thor asked.  
"He's an astrophysicist." Banner told him.  
"He's a friend." Thor said looking solemn.  
"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha said looking away.  
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve said looking around at everyone.  
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him." Banner said.  
"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." Thor said defensively.  
"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha said bluntly.  
"He's adopted." Thor was quick to reply.  
"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Banner asked suddenly.  
"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said walking in with Coulson "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive." he said to Coulson. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." He continued going on about the Iridium. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." he said to Thor who looked at him funnily. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." he then went back to talking about the iridium before turning to the crew flying the Helicarrier. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." he said before looking around while covering one of his eyes. "How does Fury do this?" he asks.  
"He turns." Hill said without emotion.  
Tony looks around the monitors and places a button size hacking implant under Fury's desk, without anyone noticing.  
"Well, that sounds exhausting." he says. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." he says about the Tesseract.  
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked Tony.  
"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asked.  
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked Tony.  
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner answered instead.  
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony continued.  
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner finished.  
"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony said going up to Banner shaking his hand.  
"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked no one in particular.  
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony said to Banner.  
"Thanks." Banner said looking down.  
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury said walking in.  
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve said thoughtfully.  
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury said.  
"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor said confused.  
"I do! I understood that reference." Cap says looking proud of himself.  
"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.  
"Let's play some." Banner says.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
After all of that went down Bella stayed around the bridge with Thor and Coulson. There was a file on Jane Foster on the computer screen. "As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe." Coulson said to Thor.  
"Thank you." Thor said gratefully. "It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man." Thor continued.  
"He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here." Coulson said.  
"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we...we come here battling like bilchsteim."  
"Like what?" Bella asked confused finally joining the conversation. Bella looked at Phil to see he was just as confused.  
"Bilchsteim? You know; huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?" Thor said describing them to the two.  
"Don't think so." Phil said.  
"It would be the first time to even hear of them for me." Bella said looking thoughtful.  
"They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path." Thor said to them. Thor walks over to the side of the ship and looks out the window, thinking about what has happened and what may come. "When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war." Thor continued lost in thought.  
"War hasn't started yet. You think you can make Loki tell us what the Tesseract is?" Fury said walking in and directing the question towards Thor.  
"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain that would prize his need from him." Thor answered the question.  
"A lot of guys think that, until the pain stops." Bella said. Nick looked at her before looking back at Thor.  
"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked.  
"I'm asking. What are you prepared to do?" Fury said.  
"Loki is a prisoner." Thor stated.  
"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?" Fury asked. Thor doesn't answer.


	5. Chapter 5

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
Bella stood with Agent Coulson and Thor at one of the computers that has a picture of Jane Foster on the bridge. Thor looks at the picture, remembering the last time he was on Earth. "As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe.' Coulson said to Thor.  
"Thank you. It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he has plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man." Thor said gratefully to him.  
" Sorry, Coulson, But I wanted to ask if you have a phone I can call the school with." Bella interrupted quickly when she felt like she was invading on a personal moment.  
"Yea, there is a SHEILD issued Stark phone for all of you in your room. You get to keep it" Coulson said.  
"Thanks, Agent Coulson." Bella said before walking away to her room that they gave her for the unknown amount of time that they will be there. When she got there she searched for the phone and found it on the bedside drawer. After she got to her room she looked around and found the phone on the night stand. Bella sat there and messed with the phone adding the phone numbers she remembers which wasn't many. She debated on calling Logan and ended up calling him.  
"Hello?" Logan answered the phone with the sounds of the students eating.  
"Hey, Wolfie!" Bella said back enthusiastically.  
"Bella, is that you?" Logan asked over the loud noises that was the children mutants.  
"Yep" Bella said to him before they started talking about random things.  
When they finished talking she went back to where she last was with Thor and Coulson. When she got there she saw Fury added to the people that was last there. As she walked in they turned to her and Fury greeted her with a nod and said, "You're just in time to watch Widow interrogate Loki."  
Bella walked over and watched the show that Natasha was putting on. About halfway through Fury and Coulson left Thor and Bella to watch the video. "So that's what your brother is planning." Bella mused ant Thor looked at her.  
Natasha walked in and had them follow her to the lab.  
Author's note: sorry its so short but I kinda forgot about this story and I have been busy at school but this is just a filler until I can finish the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Bella heard Steve say to the director.  
At that moment, Thor, Natasha, and Bella walk into the lab. Natasha keeps her eyes right on Banner. Banner looks at her angrily. "Did you know about this?" he asked her.  
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she says eyeing him.  
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." he said sarcastically.  
"Loki's manipulating you." Natasha said.  
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Banner kept his sarcastic tone while giving Natasha a look.  
"You didn't come here so I can bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha retorted.  
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Banner got serious after that last statement.  
"Because of them." Fury said pointing at Bella and Thor.  
"Us?" Bella and Thor said in union, stunned.  
"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. Also that there is a whole school of people that has powers. Most of them even have abilities that they can get whatever they want. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Nick said in answer to their question.  
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor said.  
"We teach those children to be heroes, at least we haven't pulled a stunt like this." Bella said emphasizing the word children.  
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Nick said defending their reasons.  
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve retorted.  
"People can't be controlled, they have minds of their own. They are entitled to their own opinion." Arabella was getting mad.  
"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."  
"A higher form?" Steve asked worried.  
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Nick said.  
"I still don't get why mutants get to be a part of the 'getting blown up with vaporizing guns' part." Bella stated. "Is it because we are different? 'Cause if that is so, we didn't want this. We were born with it. Ya hear no chose, born with." Bella emphasized parts of that sentence hoping to get that through Fury's thick skull.  
"Nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony said.  
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury asked Tony.  
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-" Steve started.  
"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"  
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"  
"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor chuckled to himself.  
"Excuse me, did WE come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked Thor angrily.  
"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor asked.  
"Are you all naive- really Captain America is on watch list?" Banner asked.  
"S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats." Natasha stated.  
"Potential threats? watch list?" Banner asked her.  
"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..." Steve let that threat hang.  
"You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" Tony retorted. "Threatening! I feel threatened!"  
As the 'team' argues, they don't realize the blue gem on Loki's scepter is glowing brightly. At this point the egos of these people keeping rubbing off each other.  
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor says.  
"It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb." Banner put his opinion in about the team.  
"You need to step away." Nick says.  
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony says putting his arm around Steve.  
"You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve says pushing him off.  
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony says coming face-to-face with Steve.  
"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve asked rhetorically.  
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Stark listed off.  
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve said.  
"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony retorted.  
"Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve said smiling.  
"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" Tony said. Steve had obviously hit a nerve. Steve puffs up his chest at Tony, who just stands there, unmoving.  
"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve told him.  
Thor laughs at them. "You people are so petty..." he started then looked at Bella and Natasha and says, "and tiny.  
Tony rubs his head and moves away from Cap.  
"Yeah, this is a team..."  
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..." Fury starts.  
"Where? You rented my room." Banner stated.  
"The cell was just in case..." Nick began.  
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!." There was a beat of silence before Banner continued. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Banner slowly gets upset as he looks at Romanoff, who gets unnerved. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Black Widow and Fury have their hands down to grab their guns.  
"Doctor Banner... put down the scepter." Bella says as she slowly walks towards him with her hands outstretched. Banner looks down and is shocked to see he is holding the scepter. The computer beeps. They all turn to it.  
"Got it." Tony says. Banner puts down the scepter and walks over to the computer with Bella.  
"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." Banner said.  
"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asks.  
"I can get there faster." Tony said.  
"Look, all of us..." Steve says.  
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor says.  
Tony turns to leave, but Steve stops him. "You're not going alone!"  
"You gonna stop me?" Tony says.  
"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve says.  
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony rudely says to Steve.  
"Put on the suit." Steve tells Tony.  
At that moment Banner who's looking at the monitor notices something about the Tesseract. "Oh, my God!" Banner said before everything exploded.


	7. Chapter 7

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
Bella, Natasha, and Bruce were thrown on the lower maintenance levels. Bruce was hulking out while Natasha and Bella were stuck under the debris from the explosion.  
"Doctor... Bruce, you gotta fight it." Natasha says to Banner struggling to get free.  
"This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me." Arabella continued. Two approaching SHIELD soldiers arrive to check on them. Natasha furiously waves them away. They bolt out of there. Bella grabbed a pole that was laying close and starts prying the slab of concrete off of them.  
"We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never..." Natasha picks up while Bella continues to pry the concrete off.  
Bella stops long enough to mutter " Wrong question." Natasha glared at her.  
"Your life?" His voice has the change in it - the bitter amusement is morphing to a growled threat. Another explosion rocks the carrier - and he turns to look at them, transforming just as the lights go out.  
"Bruce." Natasha pleaded. Banner suddenly starts transforming into the Hulk, giving them one last knowing look. Natasha and Bella struggles free of the rubble as Bella finally gets it far enough up. The Hulk, sensing them, turns his head and puts on a face of a disturbed monster. Natasha and Bella rushing up the stairs with the Hulk chasing after them. She rolls under a turbine, starts to crawl within the maze of pipes. The Hulk pulls them out from above the catwalk.  
Bella gets an idea and turns to Natasha. "Hide I know a way to distract him." Natasha nods and falls through under the catwalks and quickly and stealthily hides. Bella turns to the Hulk and controls the steam coming from the pipes. The steam hits the Hulk in the face and he lets out a roar of rage.  
Bella rolls under the catwalk with Natasha just as Thor tackled the Hulk into the next room. Just as Bella caught her breath the comm link buzzed. "It's 's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?" they heard Fury say.  
"This is Agent Romanoff, I'm with Tsunami. We're on our way." Natasha said. With that the two of them sprung into action.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
Black Widow and Tsunami walked above the catwalk that Barton was on quietly. As quick as lightning, Barton knocked an arrow and pointed it at Tsunami. She engages hand-to-hand combat with him. Black Widow comes into the fight after a few minuets to give Tsunami a break. After Black Widow knocks Barton's bow away he pulls a knife out. As he puts the Widow on the floor Tsunami steps in. After a few minuets of hand-to-hand he gets an advantage by pulling her hair. As he put his arm under her throat to put her in a choke hold Tsunami bites him, Barton lets her go and steps back. Black Widow sweeps his feet out from under him. Barton was getting up when Tsunami hits him over the head with a pole. As he was getting his bearings he saw the Widow and mumbles " Natasha..." Before he can do anything else Natasha kicks him in the head, knocking him unconscious.  
Bella looks at Natasha and she shrugs. "We didn't know if he was still under Loki's influence or not." Bella laughs and nods her head. " Come on. Lets get him to the infirmary." At that Bella nodded and helped.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
Bella decides to stay with Natasha to keep her company. For a while they sat in silence. But Natasha broke it by asking, "How did you learn to fight like that?"  
"I... I used to live on the streets, I have been since I was younger. There is a lot of gangs in the cities. I learned how to defend myself from a couple of the nicer ones, those ones knew how I felt because they have had similar experiences." she replied looking away. "My parents died when I was ten. I went to an orphanage but they didn't have time for the amount of kids they had there, they couldn't keep all of them in line and after a while they found out I could control water they bullied me and after it got to far I left. I lived on the streets until Charles found me. While on the way to the mansion he explained I was a mutant. I have lived at the mansion since I was 15."  
"Oh." Natasha said.  
"You don't have treat me different because you know that I know about the Red Room. I know what they do to the people in there but I don't know if it is true or not. What information is true or not 'cause most of what I have came from rumors." she said to Natasha. " We have had similar experiences if you think about it.  
Before Natasha could reply Clint groaned letting them know he was awake. As they stood to check on him he tried to rub his forehead but found his wrists were cuffed to the bed. He groaned again shaking his head trying to shake off the last bit of mind control. "Clint, you're gonna be alright." Natasha said walking towards him. Bella stayed back letting them have their moment.  
"I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?" Clint snapped at her.  
" You know that I do." she replied calmly.  
"Why am I back? How did you get him out?" Clint asked her.  
"Cognitive recalibration. We hit you really hard on the head." she answered his question.  
"We?"  
Natasha looked back at Bella, who at that point was entertaining herself by playing with water with her powers. "She helped." Natasha replied nodding her head towards her.  
Bella looked up feeling like she was being watched. "Uh... Hi."  
Natasha chuckles at her and she glares before laughing as well. Clint stared at them like they grew another head before he smiled and cleared his throat " uh.. Thanks."  
Bella replied with a "You gotcha." and a wink while Natasha took off the restraints.  
"Tasha, how many agents?" Clint asked.  
"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for." Natasha said sternly.  
"Loki, he got away?" Clint asked.  
"Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?" Bella asked him.  
"I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today." Clint said after looking at her.  
"We gotta stop him." Natasha said.  
"Yeah? Who's we?" Clint asked.  
"Don't know. Whoever's left." Bella stated.  
"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose." Clint replied to that statement.  
"Now you sound like you." Natasha said as she sits next to him  
"But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?" Clint asked her.  
"He didn't, I just..." she started before pausing.  
"Natasha." Clint starts.  
"I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out." Natasha stated.


	8. Chapter 8

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
Arabella and Natasha were talking while Clint was in the bathroom. Before Clint came out of the bathroom Steve walks into the room dressed in the full Captain America outfit. "Time to go." he says looking at the girls.  
"Go where" they reply together.  
"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Steve asks them.  
"I can" Clint says walking out of the bathroom.  
Steve looks at the girls silently asking them if he is on their side. At their nod he asks "You got a suit?"  
"Yeah." Clint replies.  
"Then suit up" Steve says before walking out of the room.  
They look at each other before Bella asks "Do ya'll have another suit besides my X-suit"  
Natasha nods and leads her to the room with the Black Widow suit and another one that is not Natasha's. In Bella's opinion the suit looks awesome.  
Image  
Natasha and Bella got dressed is silence. When they finished they went to find Steve. When everyone was gathered they went to the runway. As they get closer to the Quinjet one of the pilots walked ur to them and said "You're not authorized to be here..."  
Steve held up his hand to him. "Son, just don't." The pilot backed down after that and they boarded the plane.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
A s they arrived to New York everything was chaos. Natasha gets Tony over the comms and says "Stark we're heading northeast."  
"What, did you stop for drive-thru." he said sarcasticaly. "Swing up Park, I'll lay them out for you."  
Once they saw Iron Man bring the Chitauri around the corner Natasha brought out the machine gun on the Quinjet and started shooting at them. Hawkeye banks the Quinjet toward Stark Tower and aims the minigun at Loki. Loki aims his septer at them and fires a blast of energy at them. The Quinjet catches fire and Hawkeye lands them as safely as he can. After everyone gets their bearings they look at each other and exit the jet. They arrive in the middle of a four-way street. After they survey the damage they hear a massive roar coming from the portal. After the roar they saw a Leviathan fly out of the portal.  
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Captain America asked Iron Man.  
"I'm seeing, still working on believing," they heard over the comms. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet."  
"Banner?" Tsunami asked him.  
"Just keep me posted. Jarvis, find me a soft spot." Iron Man says.  
The four on the streets run behind an overturned taxi as Iron Man flies over them. Captain America looks around and spots a building with Chitauri shooting at people in it.  
"Those people need assistance down there." he calls over his shoulder as Black Widow shoots some Chitauri that has landed by them.  
"We've got this. It's good. Go!" Black Widow tells him. Tsunami noticed some Chitauri soldiers sneaking close to them and controlled the water in their blood to overheat their bodies.  
"You think you can hold them off?" Captain asked Hawkeye after nodding at Tsunami.  
"Captain..." he pauses to press a button on his bow which automatically chooses an arrow for him to shoot. "It would be my pleasure." After Cap runs off the trio makes it over to a full bus. While the Hawk helps everyone out Tsunami and Black Widow hold off the alien army.  
" Just like Budapest all over again" Natasha said to Clint.  
"You and I remember Budapest very differently" Clint said to her.  
"Woah woah. Someone better tell me what happened in Budapest after this." Bella said while picking up a Chitauri blaster blasting the front row away. Clint and Natasha looked at each other and nodded.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
All of the heroes meet up on the bridge. As Thor lands Captain asks him "What's the story upstairs?"  
"The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor informs them.  
"Thor is right. We gotta deal with these guys." they hear Tony over the comms.  
"How do we do this?" Black Widow asks.  
"As a team." Captain tells all of them.  
"I have unfinished business with Loki.  
"Yeah, get in line.  
"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..." Cap starts giving the orders but the Banner arrives on an old motorbike. Getting off, he looks around the city.  
"So, this all seems horrible.  
"We've seen worse." Natasha says gesturing to Bella and herself.  
"Sorry." He says to them.  
"No. We could use a little worse." Bella says to him with a small smile.  
"Stark? We got him." Cap says with his hand to his ear.  
"Banner?" He asks.  
"Just like you said." Cap nods even though he knows Stark can't see him.  
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Iron Man comes out from behind a building. The Chitauri leviathan following him impatiently. The rest of the Avengers look up, getting ready and standing still.  
"I... I don't see how that's a party..." Natasha says nervously while looking at Bella. Iron Man swoops down the street. The Chitauri leviathan also swoops down, barreling down the street like a freight train that keeps building and building its intensity. Banner looks behind. Cap looks at him. Banner begins to walk towards the monster.  
"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Cap says to Banner.  
"That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." Banner says as he turns into the Hulk. Hulk hits the leviathan on the nose making it flip over. Iron Man, in mid-flight, extends his arm out and a rocket, ready to shoot comes out of the suit. Iron Man fires - the rocket hits a soft spot and the large Chitauri leviathan is blown to pieces. Thor grabs Bella and uses Mjolnir to block them.  
"Thanks" Bella says thankfully to Thor- who nods- before looking back up. "Well, darn" she says seeing more leviathans come from the portal. They all look at Cap and Bella asks "What's the plan."


	9. Chapter 9

*Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Arabella*  
"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash." Steve says as Captain America after Bella's comment.  
"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asks Tony  
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Iron Man lifts Hawkeye up to the building.  
"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Steve continues before turning to Natasha and Bella. "The three of us, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk." He pauses to look at Hulk. "Smash." Hulk grins widely and leaps high onto a building, hitting several Chitauri soldiers on the way.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
Natasha, using an energy rifle she had gotten off of a Chitauri soldier, is taken off her feet. Bella tiresomely takes it down by cutting its throat. Both of the girls see movement and turns to attack. Cap stands there, holding his shield.  
"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha says tiredly.  
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Steve says glancing around.  
"Well, maybe it's not about guns." Bella says gesturing to the flying chariots.  
"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride.  
"I got a ride. I could use a lift though." Natasha says as she backs up giving herself a running start.  
Cap lifts and angles his shield glancing at Bella who shrugs in response before they both look at Natasha.  
"Are you sure about this?" Cap says asking what was also on Bella's mind.  
"Yeah. It's gonna be fun." Natasha says before taking off into a run and runs onto a car, jumps on Cap's shield. Cap gives a little lift and she grabs onto a chariot. Iron Man arrives and shoots any other Chitauri riders following her. He makes his way down to Cap and Bella, who fights off more Chitauri riders. Iron Man points his hand boosters at Cap's shield. The energy comes off and Cap reflects it and takes down nearby Chitauri. Hulk punches Thor and sends him flying, Hulk smirks at what he had done to Thor. Bella saw them and gave a little laugh and Steve glances at her before looking over to Hulk to see what she was laughing at and saw him smirking.  
"Hulk just punched Thor on the arm. It sent him flying." Bella says seeing his look. Steve gives her a smile and a nod before they both returned fighting. As Cap fights off a Chitauri who is pinning him down with its energy rifle, Bella uses her powers to give a little space around them after flipping over one trying to stab her. Cap stands up, picking up his shield and starts to help Bella finish off the group surrounding them.  
"Captain, Tsunami, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they caught a lot of civilians there." They both here Clint over the comms.  
"We're on it." Cap replied as they both took off. When they get there they jump through the window and Cap throws his shield at the Chitauri bomber and Tsunami uses water from the water fountains to get rid of the rest of the soldiers. Two Chitauri soldiers aim their rifles at Cap and Bella, but he and Bella heads for cover under a desk, which Cap kicks at them. Cap jumps over the desk and headlocks one of them, while Bella punches the other one before pushing it over the railing. The crowd moves away as a Chitauri attacks Cap from behind and rips off his helmet. The bomb is beeping faster.  
"Everyone! Clear out!" Bella says before turning to help Steve. Steve flips over the soldier, grabs his shield and just as the bomb is about to go off, the Chitauri bomber dives for the bomb, trying to stop it, but it goes off, sending Cap and Tsunami through the window, landing very hard on a car. Bella looks over to the civilians as they civilians look up from below. She's glad to see them okay. She sighs before looking over to Cap. "I think I'll go home and read some books and not leave my room for a week. I might even invite you in my stupidly large room." Bella says with a small smile. "Sound like a plan? You might like the mansion and the children in it."  
"I'll get back to you on that. Right now we're still fighting." Steve says and Bella nods. They get off of the car, looks around the city to see it destroyed. The police and firemen arrive, pulling away the civilians they saved. A waitress looks back, thankful. At some point in time Thor joins them after a rather large group surrounds them. Cap and Thor both throw their respected weapons as Bella sends out a wave towards the group. Thor catches Mjölnir, but as Cap turns, an energy blast strikes him down hard. Thor runs over to a broken car, swings the hammer and flips the car over on its side, crushing a few Chitauri soldiers. Cap tries to get up and Bella bends over to catch her breath. Thor helps Cap back to his feet. Cap raises his shield back up and Bella stands straights before she walks over to the other two.  
"You ready for another bout?" Thor asks them.  
"What? You gettin' sleepy?" Cap asks him.  
"I can go a bit longer with my powers. Then I'll fight without it if the fight lasts longer than I can keep going with them." Bella says with a small smile.  
"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!" Natasha says. Bella laughs in relief at the timing.  
"Do it!" Cap says giving Bella and Thor a relieved smile.  
"No, wait!" Tony says.  
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve says as Bella groans closing her eyes.  
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it." Tony tells them.  
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Steve says in concern as the ones on the ground watched Tony head to the portal, he climbs higher and higher over the city, gaining speed, going through the portal. Bella sees all of the Chitauri soldiers drop dead. Thor, Cap, and Bella see the supernova coming towards them. Thor nods to Cap.  
"Close it." Cap says grimly. As the portal closes the ones on the ground see a small figure hurling towards them through the portal. "Son of a gun!" Cap says smiling.  
"He's not slowing down." Thor says swinging Mjölnir around. Just as Thor flies up, grabs Tony from the air, crashing into a building. Thor, Cap and Bella run towards where they landed to see Hulk throw Tony off him. Thor and Cap run over to him. Thor rips off Tony's helmet. He appears to be dead. They stand around not sure what to do. Then Hulk yells in fury startling Tony awake.  
"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?" Tony says a little panicky.  
"We won." Steve says after a beat of silence while smiling.  
"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." Tony says calming down a bit.  
"We're not finished yet." Thor says looking up towards Stark Tower  
"And then shawarma after." Tony says. Bella giggles at Tony.  
"Shawarma after" Bella says as everyone looks at her smiling.

*********TIME SKIP*********  
Weeks after the Chitauri attack the Avengers take Thor and Loki, who is handcuffed and muzzled, to a blocked area. Thor shakes hands with his team and gives Selvig a hug. Tony opens the Tesseract's case. Banner takes it out and places inside a glass tube, held by Thor. Thor gives Loki the other end, who reluctantly takes it. The Asgardians leap into the energy beam. One-by-one, the group splinters off, strolling into different directions. Banner climbs in with Tony in his sports car heading towards the newly named Avengers Tower. Natasha and Clint climb back into SHIELD cars. Bella turns towards Steve as they get on their motorcycles they leave and smiles at him. "Ready to go, Captain?" She asks him. Steve nodded then they started their motorcycles. She nods and they took off for the X-Mansion.


	10. Chapter 10

*DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella* {This is the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.}  
Steve ended up talking Bella into visiting him in D.C. She needed a break from the school so she ended up agreeing. She had also started picking up his early rising every since the Chitauri attack. So with her getting up earlier during her visit, Steve finally convinced her to running with him. She surprised herself by actually having fun, considering she avoids running as much as possible and is only going a bit slower than Steve, by passing a guy who complains every time she does. "On your left." She hears Steve say to the man. She giggled a little breathlessly before stopping for the day. She ends up hearing Steve say the same thing to the same man about two more times before the guy stops close to her and sits by a tree to catch his breath. Steve finally stops his running close to the guy. Bella walks over to them smiling to Steve. Steve smiles back to her before turning to the guy. "Need a medic?" Steve asked him.  
"I need a new pair of lungs. Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minuets." The guy said pointing to Steve before turning to Bella. "And you did like eight."  
"I guess we got a late start." Bella said smiling slightly  
"Oh, really. You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." He pauses for a minuet. "Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it."  
"What unit are you with?" Steve asked him.  
"Fifty-eighth, Para-rescue. But now I'm working down at the VA. Sam Wilson." The newly introduced Sam said.  
Steve gives Sam a hand so he can get up. "Steve Rogers"  
"I kind of put that together. Who are you?" Sam said aiming the question towards Bella.  
"Arabella Rose. I go by Bella though." Bella said after the question.  
"It's nice to meet you." Sam said to Bella. Bella smiled in turn.  
Sam turned towards Steve. "Must have freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing." Sam said.  
"It takes some getting used to." Steve said slightly smiling towards Bella, who returned it. "It's good to meet you, Sam." Steve says as they turn to leave.  
"It's your bed, right?" Sam suddenly said.  
"What's that?" Steve asked turning back around.  
"You're bed, it's too soft. When I was over there I sleep on the ground and used rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like." Sam slightly trails off looking for the right word.  
"Lying on a marshmallow. feels like your sinking right to the floor." Bella suggests. Both of the guys look at her. "What? I know sort of what it feels like. You learn stuff on the streets." Both of them nod and slightly look away.  
"How long?" Steve asks Sam.  
"Two tours. You must miss the good old days, huh?" Sam says in reply.  
"Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up." Steve said giving a quick glance towards Bella who didn't see the look.  
"Marvin Gaye, 1972, 'Trouble Man' soundtrack. Everything you've missed jammed into one album." Sam suggested to him.  
"I'll put it on the list." Steve says pulling out his list. Bella gives a small laugh at the notebook she gave him when his list got too extensive for either one of them to remember. Just before she could comment on the notebook she was interrupted by Steve and her phones. 'Mission alert. Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb :).' said the text.  
"It was nice to meet you, Sam" Bella says shaking his hand.  
"Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run. If that's what you wanna call running." Steve said joking at the end before they shake hands also.  
"Oh, is that how it is." Sam says jokingly.  
"Oh, that's how it is." Steve says continuing the teasing. Bella and Sam laughs.  
"Okay. Any time either of you wanna stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know." Sam says and Bella gives a small smile.  
"We'll keep that in mind." Steve says and Bella nodded along with what Steve said.  
"Okay." Sam says. Just as he says that Natasha pulls up in her car and rolls down the window.  
"Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil, and a teacher to tell people about it." Natasha said cheekily.  
"I'm a Math teacher. Not science." Bella says indignantly.  
"That's hilarious" Steve says not long after Bella.  
Bella and Steve walk over to her car and get in, Sam gives Natasha and her car an appreciative look. "How you doing?" He says to her. Bella giggles at him.  
"Hey." Natasha says with a small smile.  
"You can't run everywhere." Steve says to Sam.  
"No, you can't." Sam says shaking his head a little. He watches as Natasha quickly pulls away and drives off.  
*********TIME SKIP*********  
Flying over the Indian Ocean the trio are with SHIELD agents, led by Brock Rumlow. "The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. It was sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago." Rumlow says.  
"Any demands?" Steve asks in Captain mode.  
"A billion and a half." Rumlow says  
"Why so steep?" Bella asks also in superhero mode.  
"Because it SHIELD's." Rumlow replies.  
"So it's not off course, it's trespass." Steve says.  
"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha says defending the place that she works in.  
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Steve says with Bella nodding along.  
"Relax, it's not that complicated." Natasha says.  
"How many pirates?" Bella asks.  
"Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc." Rumlow says. He shows them a photo of Batroc on the monitor. "Ex-TGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's 'red notice'. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."  
"Hostages?" Steve asks.  
"Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." Rumlow replies. He pulls up Sitwell's photo on the monitor. "They're in the galley."  
"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Bella asks Steve shrugged before giving orders.  
"Alright, Bella and I will sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to life pods. get 'em out. Let's go." Steve says as he and Bella walk to the back of the aircraft.  
"STRIKE, you heard the Captain. Gear up!" Rumlow commands his team. As they are getting ready to dive off the jet Steve says into his radio.  
"Secure channel seven."  
"Seven secure." Natasha says before turning to Steve "You do anything fun Saturday night?"  
"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... I was going to show Bella around D.C."  
"Coming up by the drop zone, Cap, Tsunami." Rumlow says.  
"I was gonna say you could ask out Kristen, from statistics, she would say yes." Bella giggled as Natasha said that before turning and getting ready to jump.  
Bella and Steve smile at each other and jump out of the jet before Natasha says anything else.  
"Was he wearing a parachute?" a STRIKE agent says.  
Rumlow smiles. "No. No, he wasn't." Rumlow says.


	11. Chapter 11

_***DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Arabella***_ _This is French._  
After jumping out the jet Steve and Bella dive into the ocean and then climbs onto the ship, they then beat everyone on the deck swiftly before anyone raises the alarm when they interrupted by one of the pirates pointing his gun at them.  
 _"Don't move!"_ a French pirate yells at them.  
He's shot dead by Rumlow as he parachutes down onto the deck behind Steve. "Thanks." They both say.  
"Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me." Rumlow says. Natasha and another agent parachute down onto the deck to join them.  
"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kind of nice." Natasha asks Steve.  
"Secure the engine room, then find me a date." Steve says.  
"I'm multitasking." Natasha says as Bella laughs at their bantering. Steve and Bella move quickly to find the and Bella watches.  
"Natasha, what's your status?" Steve asks Natasha.  
"Status, Natasha?" Bella asks in more of a demanding way.  
"Hang on!" Natasha says. "Engine room secure." She says after a pause.  
 _"Time's up. Who wants to die first? Hey, you! Take the girl."_ They hear the French pirate through the door.  
"On my mark." Steve tells everyone. "Three. Two. One" The STRIKE team start shooting at the pirates, blow open the door and Rumlow quickly kills the head pirate.  
"I told you, SHIELD doesn't negotiate." Rumlow says to the dead pirate.  
Steve smashes in through the window using his shield but Batroc manages to escape as Bella goes to get him.  
"Hostages enroot to extraction. Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Captain. Hostiles are still in play." Rumlow says to Steve.  
"Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." Steve tells Natasha but there's no reply from Natasha. "Natasha!" Suddenly Batroc attacks Steve while Bella gets preoccupied and knocked down with them by her assailant, they fight on the deck of the ship, with Batroc getting quickly back up on his feet.  
 _"I thought that you were more than just a mask."_ Batroc says in French to the Captain. Steve puts the shield on his back and takes off his mask.  
 _"Let's find out."_ Steve says in reply also in French. They start fighting again, Steve manages to finally knock Batroc down by smashing through into one of the rooms where Natasha is downloading something from the computer.  
"Well, this is awkward." Natasha says.  
"What are you doing?" Stave and Bella asks in unison.  
"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into." Natasha says in response.  
"Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?" Steve says getting angrier by the minute. Bella goes over to Natasha and looks at what Natasha is backing up.  
"You're saving SHIELD Intel." Bella says.  
"Whatever I can get my hands on." Natasha replies.  
"Our mission is to rescue hostages." Steve says.  
"No. That's your mission." Natasha says. She finishes backing up and pulls the flash drive out.  
"And you've done it beautifully." As Natasha goes to leave Steve grabs her arm.  
"You just jeopardized this whole operation." Bella says.  
"I think that's overstating things." Natasha says. Suddenly Batroc rises and throws a grenade at the two as he runs off, Steve deflects the bomb with his shield, grabs Natasha and jumps through a window with Bella before it explodes.  
"Okay. That one's on me." Natasha says.  
"You're damn right." Steve says. Steve and Bella both gets up and leaves in anger.  
********TIME SKIP********  
Steve and Bella walk into Fury's office at Trinkelston.  
"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve says as soon as they get in.  
"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours." Fury says.  
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share." Bella states.  
"I'm not obliged to do anything." Fury says.  
"Those hostages could've died, Nick." Steve says.  
"I sent the greatest soldier in history and one of the best water mutant to make sure that didn't happen." Fury says.  
"Uh, I'm the only water mutant of my caliber." Bella says.  
"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around and shooting guns." Steve says after Bella finishes and gives her a small smile.  
"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye. Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything." Fury says.  
"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their owns." Steve says.  
"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all." Fury rebukes.  
"Except you." Bella chimes in.  
"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." Fury steps into an elevator with Steve and Bella following behind him.  
"Insight bay." Fury says to the security computer.  
"Captain Rogers and Miss Rose does not have clearance for Project Insight." The computer says.  
"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J." Fury states to it.  
"Confirmed." The computer responds and the elevator starts moving down  
"You know, they used to play music." Steve says.  
"Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say 'hi', people would say hi back. Time went on, neighborhood got rougher. He'd say 'Hi', they'd say, 'Keep on steppin'.' Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter." Nick says to them.  
"Did he ever get mugged?" Bells asks.  
"Every week some punk would say, 'What's in the bag?'" Fury responds.  
"Well, what did he do?" Steve asks.  
"He'd show 'em. A bunch of crumpled ones and loaded 0.22 Magnum." Fury says and smiles. "Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." He continues. As they continue to ride down the elevator Steve and Bella notice the giant Helicarriers.  
"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a 0.22."Fury says in response to their staring. Fury shows Steve and Bella around. "This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."  
"Launched from the Lemurian Star." Bella states.  
"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulsor engines." Fury says and nods.  
"Stark?" Steve asks.  
"Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines. These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen." Fury says.  
"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime." Steve says.  
"We can't afford to wait that long." Fury says.  
"Who's 'we'?" Bella asks.  
"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once we're way ahead of the curve." Fury says.  
"By holding a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection." Steve says.  
"You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff." Fury says. "The mutants run around causing chaos too."  
"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so the people could be free. This isn't freedom, this is fear." Steve says.  
"Not all of them are bad. Some stray from the path because of experiences with those with guns like those." Bella says.  
"SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. It's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap, Tsunami." Fury says.  
"Don't hold your breath." Steve says. Steve and Bella turns and walks off.


	12. Chapter 12

After Steve and Bella walk off, they go to the Smithsonian Museum where there is an exhibit dedicated to Captain America. Steve had explained that he wanted to remember the past and figured that the Smithsonian would help him take that walk down memory lane.

"A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery and sacrifice." They listen to the narrator Steve, keeping his face hidden under a baseball cap, walks over to the exhibition with Bella.

"Welcome to the Smithsonian. Visitor information booths are available on the second level." They hear a woman say on the PA.

"Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier." The narrator continues and Bella smiles at Steve after she sees the way he looked before. She didn't believe him when he said that he was tiny, I mean look at him now, was what she said to the others at the shawarma. A boy recognizes both Steve and Bella, Bella smiles at the kid and Steve smiles puts his finger against his mouth to indicate for the boy to keep quiet and the boy nods, Steve then watches an old footage of himself.

"In this rare footage, everyone's favorite warrior, Captain America..." The narrator continues. Steve goes to the display where there are mannequins with costumes of Steve's old commando squad and Bella goes with him knowing he needs support. "Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division." Steve walks over to the a display of his friend Bucky Barnes and takes ahold of Bella's hand. "Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country." Steve and Bella watches an older looking Peggy Carter being interviewed.

"That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve...Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would...who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life." Steve looks at the photo of Peggy he'd kept in his old compass and Bella squeezes his hand.

Steve takes Bella and visits Peggy, who is now lying sick in bed "You should be proud of yourself, Peggy." Steve looks at Peggy's family photos by her bedside table showing her with her husband and children.

"Mm. I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn't get to live yours." Steve looks sad after he glances at Bella "What is it?"

"For as long as I can remember I just wanted to do what was right. I guess I'm not quite sure what that is anymore. And I thought I could throw myself back in and follow orders, serve. It's just not the same." Steve says and Peggy chuckles while Bella smiles.

"You're always so dramatic. Look, you saved the world. We rather...mucked it up." Peggy says.

"You didn't. Knowing that you helped found SHIELD is half the reason I stay." Peggy takes Steve's hand after he says that.

"Hey. The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over." Peggy starts to cough after she says this, Steve turns to get her some water and goes to hand it to her while Bella helps her sit up so she can breathe better.

"Peggy." Steve says and suddenly Peggy looks at Steve like she's seeing for the first time since he was frozen. Bella suddenly feels sorry for Steve knowing what was coming up and glances at him. He was already looking at her and nods knowing what was going to happen too.

"Steve?" She asks tearing up.

"Yeah."

"You're alive! You...you came, you came back." Peggy says.

"Yeah, Peggy." Peggy begins to cry after Steve says this.

"It's been so long. So long." Peggy says.

"Well, I couldn't leave my best girl. Not when she owes me a dance. And to wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine." Steve says. "This is Bella, she helped me adjust to today's stuff. And introduced me to some interesting people."

"Hello, Peggy. I've heard great things about you." Bella says offering her hand for her to shake.

" All good things I hope." Peggy says good naturedly. Bella nods with a smile. After a bit they left to Steve's place, where she is staying during her visit, to drop some things off and Steve ropes Bella into going to a PTSD group meeting where Sam is counseling other veterans with him.

"The thing is I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED." Bella hears a female war veteran say.

"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse? It's up to you." Sam says. After the meeting ends Steve waits for Sam as he finishes saying goodbye to the veterans.

"I'll see you next week." The female veteran says to Sam

"Yeah." Sam says with a nod before he walks over to Steve and Bella.

"Look who it is. The running man and woman."

"Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense." Steve says.

"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret." Sam says.

"You lose someone?" Bella asks him.

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch." Sam says.

"I'm sorry." Bella replies.

"After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" Sam says.

"But you're happy now, back in the world?" Steve asks him.

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah. You thinking about getting out?" Sam asks Steve.

"No. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did." Steve says and Bella gets where he's getting at. SHIELD gives her something to do besides teach at the school.

"Ultimate fighting?" Sam asks and Steve and Bella laughs. "It's just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

"I don't know." He says glancing at Bella. She sees a look in Sam's eyes after he glances at her, like he knows something that they don't. Soon after the leave to Steve's apartment.


	13. Chapter 13

**_* THANK YOU NicholeR85 FOR POINTING OUT THE SYMBOLS. I FIXED IT AND HOPEFULLY IT DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN.*_**

"As Steve and Bella is walking to his apartment Kate, Steve's neighbor, talking on the phone as she goes to do her laundry. "That's so sweet. That is so nice. Hey. I gotta go, though. Okay, bye." She ends the call before turning to Steve and Bella. "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac." Steve and Bella smiles at her. "Yeah."

"Hey, if you want...if you want, you're welcome to use my machine. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement." Steve says.

"Oh, yeah? What's it cost?" Kate asks

"A cup of coffee?" Bella suggests for them, trying to do what Natasha has been doing and setting him up with someone.

"Thank you, but um...I already have a load in downstairs, and, uh...you really don't want my scrubs in your machine. I'm just finished orientation in the infectious diseases ward, so." Kate says.

"Ah, well, I'll keep my distance." Steve says.

"Well hopefully not too far." Kate says and Steve nods and turns to go into his apartment. "Oh, and I think you left your stereo on." Kate says turning back to them.

"Oh. Right, thank you." Steve says.

"Yeah." Steve and Bella watch her go down the stairs before sharing a glance and turn in suspicion to his door. Steve hears music as he cautiously enters his apartment though the window with Bella, he grabs his shield for protection and Bella gathers some water from the air. They turn the corner of a bookshelf and find Fury sitting on Steve's couch in the dark.

"I don't remember giving you a key." Steve says.

"You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out." Fury says.

"Didn't know you were married." Bella says.

"A lot of things you don't about me." Fury says.

"I know, Nick. That's the problem." Steve says and as Steve turns on the light he notices Fury's injuries for the first time, but Fury indicates for him to be silent, he turns off the light and writes something on his phone and shows it to Steve and Bella. 'Ears everywhere' the phone reads.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." He writes another text and shows it to Steve and Bella 'SHIELD compromised'

"Who else knows about your wife?" Fury shows them another text 'You two and me.'

"Just...my friends." Fury says.

"Is that what we are?" Bella asks.

"That's up to you two." Suddenly Fury is shot three times from through the wall and collapses, Steve looks out the window for the shooter then he quickly drags Fury to the next room, before he leaves Fury hands him the flash drive "Don't...trust anyone." Fury passes out. Steve hears someone breaking into his apartment and hears his neighbor calling out to him.

"Captain Rogers?" Bella and Steve hear Kate call out. They see her walking in with her gun pointed at the ground. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service." She states.

"Kate?" Steve and Bella asks at the same time.

"I'm assigned to protect you." Agent 13 says to them.

"On whose order?" Steve asks. Agent 13 notices Fury lying injured on the ground.

"His." She goes to Fury then contacts SHIELD through her radio. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs." She says into the radio.

"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" Steve notices the shooter though the window and pulls Bella up.

"Tell him we're in pursuit." Steve smashes through his window and runs after the assassin with Bella. They chase him through an office building smashing through the walls, when they finally catch up with him on the roof Steve throws his shield at the assassin, but he catches it with one swift move, then throws it back to Steve and then jumps down the building and disappears.

Steve and Bella goes to the hospital and they watch doctors operating on Fury. Natasha eventually meets them there. "Is he gonna make it?" She asks worriedly.

"I don't know." Steve says.

"Tell me about the shooter." Natasha says.

"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm." Bella says. Just then Agent Hill also joins them.

"Ballistics?" Natasha asks her.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Hill responds to Natasha's question.

"Soviet-made." Natasha states.

"Yeah." Suddenly they watch in shock as Fury's state deteriorates.

"He's in V-tach." A male nurse states.

"Crash cart coming in." A female nurse says.

"Nurse, help me with the drape." The Doctor demands to one of the nurses.

"BP is dropping." The male nurse states.

"Defibrillator!" The doctor exclaims. Steve, Bella, Natasha and Hill watch in shock as Fury is flatlining. "I want you to charge him at one hundred." The doctor says to the nurse that has the defibrillator.

"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha says putting her hand on the glass.

"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor shouts. Fury is given a shock with the defibrillator, and he jerks up. "Pulse?"

"No pulse." A nurse says.

"No pulse." The one with the defibrillator says.

"Okay. 200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor says. Fury is given another shock and he jerks. "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"

"Negative." The male nurse says.

"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me." Natasha says. The four watch the doctors as they continue to revive Fury, but Fury is still showing as flatlining, Steve turns away as they finally call his time of death.

"What's the time?" The doctor asks.

"1:03, Doctor." The female nurse says.

"Time of death, 1:03 a.m." the doctor states. Steve looks down at the flash drive Fury had given him. Natasha, Bella, and Steve are in a room where Fury's dead body has been laid out, Natasha is looking at Fury's body with tears running down her face, Hill joins them.

"I need to take him." Steve goes over to Natasha.

"Natasha." Steve says. She doesn't respond, instead she tenderly touches Fury's head then turns and walks out, Steve and Bella follow her. "Natasha!"

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha asks Steve.

"We don't know." Steve says. They are interrupted by Rumlow.

"Cap, Tsunami, they want you back at SHIELD." Rumlow tells them.

"Yeah, give us a second." Bella says.

"They want you now." Rumlow insists.

"Okay." Steve says and turns to Natasha.

"You're a terrible liar." She turns and walks off after she tells than that.


	14. Chapter 14

Steve notices the vending machine next to him and nudges Bella. He nods to the snack machine and Bella understands. After a few minutes they are walking back to Rumlow. "Let's go." He says as they reach him.

"Yeah." He replies to Steve. "STRIKE, move it out." He says to the STRIKE team. As they leave get back at SHIELD, Steve and Bella are brought to Pierce who is talking to Agent 13.

"For whatever it's worth, you did your best." Peirce says to the special agent as they approach.

"Thank you, sir." She says. As she turns to leave she sees Steve and Bella. "Captain Rogers. Tsunami." She greets them.

"Neighbor." Steve replies coldly as he walks towards Pierce. Bella just nods at the woman.

"Ah, Captain. Tsunami. I'm Alexander Pierce." He says to them reaching his hand out to them.

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve says as they exchange hand shakes.

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." Pierce starts his rant as they enter Pierce's office where he shows Steve and Bella an old photo of Fury with Pierce. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the SHIELD station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.' Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter." Pierce finished his rant that Bella swears took hm forever to say. She is a teacher but even she has a limit on rambling.

"So you gave him a promotion." Bella says.

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?" He asks the Captain himself.

"I don't know." Steve replies to the question honestly.

"You know it was bugged?" Peirce asked them both this time.

"We did, because Nick told us." Bella replies.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Neither of them reply obviously not knowing this information. "I want you to see something." He says as he brings up footage of Batroc being interrogated.

"Who hired you, Batroc?" A SHIELD agent asks the man.

"Is that live?" Bella asks.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers." Pierce replies to he question.

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line." Steve asks the first part then states the last one.

"No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech." Peirce replies.

"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Steve asks sassily as Pierce hands Steve the file.

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at 14-37." Pierce replied.

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?" Bella asks.

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death." Peirce replies.

"If you really knew Nick Fury you'd know that's not true." Steve says in defense of the man that has tried to make his stay in this new world comfortable.

"Why do you think we're talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry." Pieclrce replies before he hesitates a moment. "Captain, Tsunami, you were the last two to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think either of you do either. So I'm gonna ask again, why was he there?" He says as a continuation of his last thoughts.

"He told us not to trust anyone." Bella replies to the man.

"I wonder if that included him." Pierce states. Steve and Bella pause a moment before Steve replies.

"I'm sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse us." Steve says as he picks up his shield, places it on his back and starts to make his out of the office while grabbing Bella's hand to pull her along behind him.

"Captain." Steve stops and looks at Pierce as he got his attention. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone." Pierce states fiercely but with an edge of warning.

"Understood." Steve replies before he turns and leaves pulling Bella along with him. After Steve leaves Pierce's office he steps into the elevator with Bella. "Operations control." He states to the elevator when the doors start close.

"Confirmed." The computer states but just as the elevator doors are about to close all of the way Rumlow steps in with two STRIKE agents.

"Keep all STRIKE personnel on site." He says to the agent next to him getting affirmatives from the both of them.

"Forensics." Rumlow says to the computer getting a confirmation in return. "Cap. Tsunami." He greets to the two superheroes beside him.

"Rumlow." Steve says while Bella just nodded at him. The elevator doors close and they start riding down.

"Evidence Response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?" Rumlow asked the captain.

"No, lets wait and see what it is first." Steve says with a shake of his head.

"Right." Rumlow says with a nod. Bella notices one of the agents touching his weapon suspiciously and reaches for Steve's hand, knowing he noticed too. Bella needed the comfort from him, it was different than when the Chitauri invaded New York, it wasn't people you were supposed to work with behind the guns. The elevator stops and more SHIELD and STRIKE agents enter. She tuned out the chatter between the SHIELD agents and Steve squeezes her hand comfortingly.

"Excuse me." One of the SHIELD agents said to Steve and Bella.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up, what happened to him." Rumlow says to the two heros.

"Thank you." Feeling something is off, Steve looks at the agents in the elevator and notices one of them is sweating, then the elevator stops and more agents enter. As the elevator doors close Steve realizes they've been surrounded by agents.


	15. Chapter 15

"Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" Steve asks the agents and let's go of Bella's hand. There's a moment's pause before suddenly one of the agents turns and uses an electric rod to give Steve a shock, the others grab both Steve and Bella and try to strap their wrists with magnetic cuffs, only succeeding in getting Bella due to her not having super strength or access to water, though she does put up a good fight because of Logan's training. Steve manages to knock some of them down but one cuff remains, then Rumlow uses his rod to give Steve a shock. Steve manages free himself from the magnetic cuff, get Bella loose, and knock all the agents down before he turns to Rumlow.

"Whoa, guys. I just want you to know, Cap, Tsunami, this ain't personal." Rumlow says to the both of them. Rumlow then goes to attack the both of them with his electric rod but they manages to defend themselves and Steve eventually knocks Rumlow out.

"It kind of feels personal." Steve says and Bella giggles a bit at the statement. Steve picks up his shield then opens the elevator doors, but he's faced by a team of STRIKE agents pointing their weapons at both of them.

"Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air!" One of the STRIKE agents say to them. Steve uses his shield to break off the elevator wires which sends the elevator down and Bella screams in shock from the sudden drop. As he forces the doors open he sees more STRIKE agents approching him, he closes the door and looks for a way out.

"Give it up, Rogers! Get that door open! You have nowhere to go!" One of the STRIKE agents outside said. Steve breaks through the glass in the elevator with his shield, grabs Bella, and plummets down to finally hit the ground floor. Steve rides out of the SHIELD garage on his motorcycle with Bella on the back with his shield on her back to keep her safe from the bullets that were aimed at them. Evading the obstacles laid out but then a Quinjet emerges ahead of him.

"Stand down, Captain Rogers, Tsunami. Stand down." The pilot of the Quinjet says to the two now wanted people. The Quinjet lowers its machine gun. "Repeat, stand down." As Steve doesn't stop they start shooting at the two of them. Steve takes the shield that Bella offers him and throws it into the propellers to jam it as she takes control of the bike, giving Steve the opportunity to jump onto the Quinjet and do more damage to the jet with his shield before jumping off onto the motorcycle as the jet goes crashing down and they escape.

 _break_

Disguised as civilians, Steve and Bella go back to the hospital to retrieve the flash drive from the vending machine but Steve sees it's gone, then Natasha appears behind them chewing some gum, in anger Steve pushes her into a room with Bella following them closing the door after the three of them are in the room.

"Where is it?" Steve asks Natasha.

"Safe." Natasha says simply.

"Do better!" Steve almost shouts at Natasha.

"Where did you get it?" Natasha asks in return.

"Why would I tell you?" Steve asks out of frustration.

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" Natasha asked him.

"What's on it?" Bella pipes up from her spot in leaning against the wall, so they would realize that she was still there.

"I don't know." Natasha says seriously. Bella nods believing the red head.

"Stop lying!" Steve says apparently not believing her.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Natasha says to the soldier.

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" Steve asks her.

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." Natasha says it like it was an everyday thing.

"I'm not gonna ask you again." Steve says stressed.

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." Natasha says seriously.

"So he's a ghost story." Bella says, stepping away from the wall to be more engaged in the conversation.

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." Natasha says before she pulls up her shirt to show them the scar on the side of her stomach. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." She finishes and pulls her shirt back down.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." Steve says sarcastically. There's a hit of a smile from Natasha.

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Natasha says before she holds up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." Steve takes the flash drive from her.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Bella says clapping her hands once.

 _Break_

Steve, Bella, and Natasha go to the mall disguised as a civilian couple and the sister. Bella and Steve was the couple and Natasha is Bella's half sister. Bella has no idea how she was roped into it, but the glint in Natasha's eyes when she said what the plan was to them scared Bella.

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Natasha says looking at them for a minute.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve says sarcastically.

"No matter how well I can walk in heals, Nat. I just can't run in them." Bella says to her redhead 'half sister' who smiles at her. They go to a Mac store to use one of their computers.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha says as they go to a computer.

"How much time do we have?" Steve asks her.

"Uh...about nine minutes from..." She pops the flash drive into a MacBook Pro. "Now. Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands." Natasha says as she tries to get to the information on the drive.

"Can you override it?" Bella asks her.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Natasha says a bit smug. Steve, Bella, and Natasha continue to try and find out what's on the flash drive. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." Natasha says to the two before an Apple approaches them.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" The man stoutly man with glasses similar to Steve's fake ones asks them.

"Oh, no. My sister was just helping me and my fiancé with some honeymoon destinations." Bella says quickly as she and Steve turn to face the approaching man while Natasha continues to work.

"Right! We're getting married." Steve says looking a lot less uncomfortable than Bella thought he would be.

"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" The Apple employee asks them. Steve looks at the monitor over his shoulder and sees the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey.

"New Jersey." Steve replies to the kind man.

"Oh." The employee says then looks at Steve for a moment. "I have the exact same glasses." He says after the few tense minutes.

"Wow, you two are practically twins." Natasha says sarcastically.

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." The employee, now dubbed Aaron, says with a snort and gives them a small smile before walking away.

"Thank you." Steve says before looking at Natasha. "You said nine minutes, come on."

"Shh, relax. Got it." She placates the agitated super soldier before they find the signal is coming from Wheaton, NJ "You know it?" Natasha asks him when she caught him staring at the screen.

"I used to. Let's go." Steve pulls the flash drive from the computer and the three of them walk out of the store. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." Mutters to the two women as two agents are coming straight towards them.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Bella demands Steve.

"What?" Steve asks surprised.

"Do it!" Steve quickly puts his arm around Bella and laughs. As they are going down the escalator Bella spots Rumlow on the escalator next to them going up, she turns to Steve.

"Kiss me." Bella says catching Steve off guard once again.

"What?" He asks.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." Natasha says matter of factly.

"Yes, they do." Steve says before Bella quickly pulls down Steve's head and kisses him making Rumlow look away as he goes past them on the escalator.

"You still uncomfortable?" Natasha asks him after they pull apart.

"It's not exactly the word I would use." Steve says making Bella blush and turn away.


End file.
